Stranger Than Fiction
by Funky In Fishnet
Summary: Alice contemplates if all evil has a sympathetic backstory, the selfishness of love and lingers over her future with Cyrus.


_**Disclaimer:** I own nothing._

 _ **Author Note:** Set after the finale episode 'And They Lived...'_

* * *

 **STRANGER THAN FICTION**

There was rarely a day when Alice and Cyrus didn't think of or talk about Wonderland. It was where they had met, where their friends still lived and even if Alice and Cyrus didn't live there any more, it was a place that remained firmly lodged in their thoughts and memories. Perhaps it was under their skins, close to their hearts. Cyrus would always be a piece of that world, a shining reminder, and Alice would always be grateful to have found him there.

They would never have met if it hadn't been for Wonderland.

They could talk about it with Alice's father and with Sarah and Millie, they could recall adventures and friends and the amazing things they'd seen there and been part of. Alice's father listened attentively and smiled and even laughed, he always said he was pleased that Alice had returned to him to tell him such stories. He held her hand tightly and Alice knew that he truly meant it.

Her stepmother Sarah was still a little alarmed by the world that had invaded her home and clearly didn't want her own daughter running off to such a dangerous-sounding place. Alice had told Millie that when she was older, Alice would allow Rabbit to show her the way. Wonderland was much safer now that Anastasia and Will were presiding over it together.

"Isn't it strange?" Alice commented to Cyrus one night, curled up against him in bed. "I'm glad that Anastasia is Queen."

She could feel Cyrus smile. "I'm sure she'd think it strange too."

Alice was glad though and Anastasia was a friend now as well as a better Queen. That was just as odd an idea. It had been the strangest journey. Anastasia had killed Cyrus, only she hadn't. She'd been entirely selfish, not caring who was hurt or destroyed as she tried desperately to regain her relationship with Will. She'd wanted to turn time backwards just to be poor again by Will's side.

Alice couldn't say that she wouldn't have done the same thing if it'd meant being reunited with Cyrus. She'd shamed her family, destroyed her relationship with them because she'd refused to pretend that what she'd been through hadn't happened. She hadn't imagined or dreamed it, she'd been in love and it'd hurt so much to be told that it had all been untrue. But the pain had been so great for so long that she'd almost allowed such voices to take away all that she'd experienced and who she'd become with Cyrus.

It struck Alice anew that she and Anastasia were more alike than she would have ever believed. They'd both been selfish, destroying different worlds in different ways, destroying themselves, for love.

And Anastasia and Alice were friends now. Anastasia visited when she could and was very good with Alice's sister and stepmother. Occasionally Alice felt a prickle because Sarah had clearly decided that Anastasia was an impressive proper young lady in appearance and manner and Anastasia responded to that, because according to Will, she'd spent years feeling inadequate and resentful due to her mother, especially after her sister Ella's happy ending. So Alice was glad for Anastasia, even if it did cause Alice to miss her mother terribly. Cyrus knew what that was like and he didn't try to say the right thing, he let her have some time and space to herself and then he held her close in silence. Even if he'd still been a genie, magic wouldn't have helped at all.

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Alice thought about Anastasia a lot, about who the Red Queen had been and who the White Queen was now, fighting to be the monarch that Wonderland needed and accepted. Once, Alice would have said that Anastasia was evil; killing Cyrus because she'd wanted to destroy Alice. She'd heard the Red Queen sneer about everlasting love and unbreakable relationships; she'd seen how empty Will had been because he hadn't been able to stand the heartbreak and pain of the end of his relationship with Anastasia.

Anastasia hadn't been evil; she'd done awful things with little care for the consequences. She'd purposefully hurt people. But she had still always been Will's True Love and now, she was focused on that in an entirely different way. She was determined to be a better Queen of Wonderland. She was still selfish when it came to her love, but wasn't Alice with Cyrus?

Alice still dreamed about seeing Cyrus flung from the Wonderland cliffs, she still dreamed about the Queen's unrepentant behaviour. She dreamed of the Jabberwocky, deftly extracting every fear from her head with soft powerful words. She dreamed of seeing Anastasia dead and lying in state while Will sat teary-eyed beside her.

She dreamed of Cyrus' pendant burning through her.

She dreamed of Jafar enslaving them all.

Some of it was true, some of it wasn't. It was all so close.

Jafar had been evil. Only...

"Do you think Jafar was like Anastasia?" she asked quietly in the darkness. "Do you think something happened to him, something that kept driving him into what he did?"

Cyrus shifted a little and kissed her before speaking. It still felt precious, to have him there, to be able to kiss him.

"I want to say no," Cyrus answered at last. "Because of what he did to my mother, to you, to Anastasia and Will. He was cruel and I can't see any reason for it. But we couldn't see Anastasia's reasons either, not for a very long time."

It was Alice's turn to shift slightly. It was an uncomfortable thought; maybe there were always people who loved those that seemed cruel and terrible. Maybe there was an Anastasia for every Will and vice versa. Maybe some were never sorry for what they'd done because it'd all been for True Love. Maybe others were regretful. Who knew how many had burned for happy endings. How was Alice with her sword and determined journey, her once-wrecked family, any different?

Alice shut her eyes and dipped a hand to touch her growing stomach, forcing her mind to that instead. Her journey with Cyrus continued to be happy but it wasn't at an end yet. Anastasia and Will were coming to visit soon, as were Cyrus' brothers. And there was the house to get ready and all the preparations that came with having a baby. Sarah was a great help and seemed to enjoy helping prepare Alice for what was to come. Alice was grateful for that.

She hoped that the bottle containing Jafar was securely locked up, deep in Anastasia's castle. Perhaps someday Alice would be able to fathom that there was someone out there missing Jafar, someone that he missed in return. Perhaps.

Alice felt Cyrus' hand join hers, their fingers intertwining over what was to be the next stage of their journey together, still happy, still full of challenge, adventure and excitement. It was the only future that mattered for now. Alice still had her sword and friends in two worlds. She had so much to share with her child, telling stories and drawing maps, anticipating showing them Wonderland and hoping, wishing that they would get to experience the dizzying wonderful highs of love but not the crushing heartbreaking lows as Will and Anastasia, and Alice and Cyrus had. Was there one without the other? Oh, there had to be. Please.

Wishes were dangerous too. But Alice would wish for her child. Of course she would be selfish for them, she didn't know how not to be.

 _-the end_


End file.
